Black Founders Forum - Raising Millions to Scale Their Businesses

In honor of Black Heritage Month, a robust collaboration between the Black employee resource groups at Amazon (BEN), LinkedIn (BIG) and MERG-E (the Michigan Employee Resource Group for Equity), has formed and teamed up with the nation’s largest equity crowdfunding platform, to host a global panel discussion showcasing the inspiring journeys of five black founders who have raised as much as $1 million+ dollars in capital on the StartEngine platform. The Black Founders Forum with Q&A will address the topic of equity, as it relates to access to capital for Black and Brown founders, as well as the challenges related to building wealth within the Black community. The virtual event is free and will be broadcast live on Zoom

The founders on the panel represent a wide array of businesses at various stages of development, including:

• PopCom - an automated retail technology platform for vending machines and kiosks that allows retailers to engage and understand customers, sell more products, and learn from big data, founded by Dawn Dickson - ($4M+ raised)
• Fanbase - a new subscription-based social media network founded byIsaac Hayes, III. - ($1M+ raised)
• SoapSox – the next generation of washcloths for kids, founded by Ray Phillips - ($1M+ raised)
• MentalHappy - a social network designed to help people with their emotional health through peer support, founded by Tamar Blue - ($154K raised)
• CommunityX- a coalition-building platform that connects like-minded activists from local and global communities around the issues they care about most, founded by Chloë Cheyenne - ($98K raised)

About StartEngine The largest equity crowdfunding platforms in the U.S., StartEngine launched in 2015, led by technology mogul Howard Marks. StartEngine’s mission is to help entrepreneurs achieve their dreams, and the platform enables everyday people to become angel investors and venture capitalists by giving them access to startup investment opportunities. To date,over $250 million has been raised on the StartEngine platform from over 300,000.